


wish we never learned to fly

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23512705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: Short Fratt flash!fic prompted by tumblr anon.  <3
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65





	wish we never learned to fly

**Author's Note:**

> Anon prompt from tumblr requesting some Fratt inspired by the Billie Eilish song "I love you". Full prompt is over on my tumblr.

He doesn't think about the future. Not really his thing, at least not since Maria and - Lisa and Frankie. Not 'the kids', lumping them together like they weren't individuals with full personalities and life and futures - fuck.

His future hasn't really mattered since. Sure, he can sign a lease with a fake name, buy bullets with bloody cash, pour concrete on a billionaire's housing project - he doesn't go hungry.

He gave up on the future when they put his family in the ground.

* * *

He doesn't know what he expects when he makes peace with Daredevil over a pile of unconscious meth-heads in a burning warehouse.

It's not really the peace he's interested in at the time, more the exit safely from the fire and the feds heading their way but he takes the deal, the handshake and the arm around his waist to swing them both out of danger. Those sticks pack a wallop to the face but the retractable ropes are a godsend.

He isn't immune to life, to fun. He likes a good laugh, a cold drink, a soft voice - likes a bad smile, a hot kiss, a hard fuck - too, just doesn't normally find all in the same person.

Maria made him smile, made him giggle, made him cry. Still makes him cry. 

Bill - Bill had that wicked smile and those thin mad fingers that found all his softest spots to bite down until they both tasted blood. Bill made him grin, made him burn - made him rage. Still makes him rage. 

Karen made him laugh, made him think, made him leave. All soft hair and doe eyes and sharp edges - too sharp to let anyone get close enough to stay. 

Matt - well. Matt's a wild card, isn't he?

* * *

Matt glows when he smiles. Not those fake lawyer 'work-face' smiles, or the 'humoring the dumbasses in the room' smiles - but the easy, accidental ones - the fond, amused ones that light up the lines of his mouth. And when he laughs, those easy accidental bursts of sound send sparks of heat through Frank's stomach.

He likes that Matt trusts him enough to be easy and accidental with his softness - but never showing his belly or baring his neck for a battle he doesn't intend to win.

Matt moves him like piecing a puzzle, easily, with a few cool beers on a hot day, and accidentally, with a slow burn story that called Frank's lips to his jaw, just to taste that pepper of stubble.

* * *

Matt talks at him like a lawyer, explains that he's trying not to have casual sex without strings and needs to negotiate terms. Frank nods at him like a distracted defendant with his fingers on the pulse in his thigh and agrees to strings including and not limited to breakfast and fingers and thighs - 

* * *

They don't talk every day, and they don't fuck every time they meet up and it's - it's nice, it's comfortable and a few weeks turn into a season and a rainstorm turns into a blackout and a sleepover turns into a habit.

They don't hang out with each other's friends, or share their secrets, not the ones they don't have to. 

Matt talks to dead people in his sleep and Frank holds his tongue and sometimes the sheets tight in his fist to not scream at his ghosts.

Frank's nightmares never become dreams, always thick hot sand that tastes red red red and voices loud and booming and as formless as his fear - and Matt holds his wrists, his arms, and his tongue, never asking any of the questions written in his dark eyes.

He doesn't know what day it is, or what time, but he wakes up with Matt's calloused fingers on his cheek an instant before he presses a kiss to his mouth. "See you later, work."

"Mm. Love you." He opens his eyes in time to catch the flutter of surprise, the eyelashes were a tell without the red glasses, and then a smile, an easy, accidental one.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you, but - " Matt starts softly.

Frank stopped thinking about the future years ago. But maybe. Maybe he can start thinking about the now again. The present. Maybe.

"Won't take it back if you come back to bed. Might if you go to work. What time is it anyway?"

"Asshole," Matt laughs, a real one, and kisses him.


End file.
